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Question: Banff!

Flowergirl88

Certified Ski Diva
So... not sure if you're planning on skiing at Lake Louise, but here's a pro tip if you are! Stay in the tiny little town of Field. It's made up of a few streets, and the drive to Lake Louise is gorgeous the time just flies! Most of the lodging is available on AirBnB. Most families in this little town rent out their basement suites which oftentimes has a full kitchen. It's generally $100 a night, which is a steal compared to lodging at Lake Louise. Regarding car - the answer would be YES YES YES... I HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend you get a car to get around town. It's a LOT bigger than you might think. The Canadian Rockies is my most favorite place in the whole word (and I've traveled across six continents)... it's just breathtakingly beautiful, and I would highly recommend doing some hikes in the winter wonderland if you have time. I'm going skiing there late December and will post more when that trip is done!
 

Flowergirl88

Certified Ski Diva
Wait... I need info on Tremblant AND Sugarloaf :smile: Both are in the works this year with my kids! And what do you mean??? Seriously... Canadian Rockies is gooooooooooooorgeous!!! Confession though! I've only been in the summer though, so... who knows about winter time right? Will find out this December!
 

Flowergirl88

Certified Ski Diva
SkiBam and I are Tremblant regulars. @MaineSkiLady would be a good source for Sugarloaf....
What would spring ski be like during first week of April? Yay/Nay? Any recommendations on places to stay? We'll have 7 year old twins in tow... so just a family of four! Fly or drive from DC area? Fly into Montreal? Rent a car? Thoughts??? Thanks!
 

ilovepugs

Angel Diva
Remember Alberta gets winter. Driving in snow takes different skills than a summer drive.
Can you remind me - does Highway 1 require chains during mid-winter? It was a pretty easy drive in the spring. And I think SSV requires chains or snow tires on the access road?
 

Jilly

Moderator
Staff member
@ilovepugs - need some local intel on that. Let me see what I can find out.

As for Tremblant...check flights from Newark, I think. Or just drive it...
 

Ski Sine Fine

Angel Diva
Remember Alberta gets winter. Driving in snow takes different skills than a summer drive.
My preference would be not to drive, hence staying in Banff where I can shuttle to the slopes. If the day is sunny and roads are clear and there’s a place I really want to visit, I might get a one-day rental if available. But most likely I’ll stick to excursions reachable by public or tour transportation.
 

Jenny

Angel Diva
My preference would be not to drive, hence staying in Banff where I can shuttle to the slopes. If the day is sunny and roads are clear and there’s a place I really want to visit, I might get a one-day rental if available. But most likely I’ll stick to excursions reachable by public or tour transportation.
We’ve gone carless twice and it was fine. But it was also nice to have the car this last time, when we stayed in Canmore.
 

Chuyi

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
My preference would be not to drive, hence staying in Banff where I can shuttle to the slopes. If the day is sunny and roads are clear and there’s a place I really want to visit, I might get a one-day rental if available. But most likely I’ll stick to excursions reachable by public or tour transportation.
U don't need 2 drive there r 2 bus companies that run calgary Airport to banff the bus drops u off near hotels. I took Brewster. Reserve online. I was considering ski in & out at sunshine but u can only check in when gondola runs (8-5). I stayed in banff where Brewster drops off & in front of busstop to sunshine & lake Louise. The rest of the town is walkable. Also banff is on ikon pass (I had 7 days)
 

nopoleskier

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Banff is amazing. I was there Early March 2019- I flew into Calgary- rented AWD car stayed in Canmore- our condo came with a park pass that 'must' be visible when parking at ski areas, mine wasn't on the dash one day, and I got a ticket- easy fix, stopped at the park entry where you buy passes- showed our pass and they cleared the ticket.

I loved Norquay-- no one was there when we went- we skied 15K in about 1.5hrs! Great fall lines.
Sunshine was also great- so open so not good on snowy days although there are some runs by the gondola that are tree lined. LL was a zoo- it was a low snow year (only had 60" when we got there) and the conditions at LL were like boiler plate here in the east, no off piste, bump trails lots of rocks.

It was VERY VERY COLD- Minus 37C- = Minus 37F! the first day since it was so cold we went and checked out each mt for parking, changing areas and bag storage and went for hike into a glacier- 2nd day Still Minus 34C- so we hiked into another glacier, and hike the Emerald trails around there. We drove up the Highway- it's well taken care of, almost made it to the Ice fields but went back to ski. We Did go to both Lake Louise Fairmont Hotel the Banff Fairmont are beautiful. The scenery is the best I've ever seen- take your breath away everywhere you look. Make sure you have plenty of space on your camera!

You'll have a blast and want to go back I'm sure!
SUNSHINE:
1657218955532.png


Norquay 1657219182067.png

1657219267147.png

1657219300195.png

View from Iron goat Restaurant Canmore: 1657219393213.png
 

Ski Sine Fine

Angel Diva
Just booked non-refundable airfare so I’m committed now. Still have to book airport shuttle and will probably go with Brewster as my hotel is one of their stops.

So, how much Canadian money and in what denominations should I bring with me? I usually put everything on the credit card as much as I can but probably should have some walkabout money.
 

ilovepugs

Angel Diva
Just booked non-refundable airfare so I’m committed now. Still have to book airport shuttle and will probably go with Brewster as my hotel is one of their stops.

So, how much Canadian money and in what denominations should I bring with me? I usually put everything on the credit card as much as I can but probably should have some walkabout money.
when are you going? Honestly I just grab cash from the ATM since my ATM fees are refunded.

the Banff airporter is slightly cheaper than Brewster. Going to take it on Thursday and will let you know how it goes. They allow a pre-tipping option too.
 

Ski Sine Fine

Angel Diva
My dates are 2/25 - 3/4. I plan to only ski for 4 days.

Do let me know about the Banff airporter. Brewster has a slight discount for round-trip bookings. Both have similar departure and arrival schedules. My guess is either one would work.
 

Ski Sine Fine

Angel Diva
Now that I’ve gone and come back, some notes for the sake of posterity.

- Banff airporter is great. They will move you to a later shuttle if the flight is delayed. Which leads to …

- Air Canada through Toronto, shall we say, SUCKS. The flight out of Dulles was delayed an hour. The connection at Toronto was delayed over 4 hours. The return flight out of Calgary was delayed 2 hours. I missed my return connection through Toronto, got automatically re-booked to 2 DAYS out. Called and put on hold for an hour and re-booked to the next morning. THAT flight got canceled at 1am. Got re-booked to LaGuardia then Dulles. I don’t think so! Another 2 hours on the phone and re-booked for the same morning 7:30am (it’s 3am now) to Reagan National instead of Dulles. THAT flight was delayed an hour. Why? I have no idea. The plane was there, the crew was there. It was the first flight out of that gate. I’m beginning to think delayed departure is SOP for Air Canada. Since I changed my destination airport, that leads to …

- Having AirTags in your luggage is a grand idea. That is how I knew my skis made it with me to Reagan but not my suitcase. And when the baggage handler decided to take my skis to United (the original connection was on United to Dulles) instead of putting them on the carousel, I convinced the Air Canada counter person to call the main terminal and have them brought back to the carousel. I literally watched my skis on the Apple FindMy app traveling from the gate to the carousel, then from the carousel to the main terminal. The next day, I watched my suitcase take a grand tour of metro DC before showing up at my door.

- Oh, I went skiing, didn’t I? YES, skiing was great. I actually liked Lake Louise better than Sunshine Village. The views, however, were better at Sunshine. That is, when it isn’t cloudy and snowy. When it was, the flat light and white-out was something fierce and I actually got vertigo a little bit at the top.

- The exchange rate was great too. It’s like getting a 26% discount on everything.

- Next time I’d stay closer to down town. The local bus isn’t all that reliable with respect to posted schedules.

I would eventually do Banff again, but only after the bad taste left by Air Canada is gone. Next time, I’m going to try a domestic airline and avoid Toronto at all costs.
 

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